I AM with You

Context

Last week Baby Moses, an Israelite infant who should have been slain under the Pharaoh’s edict, was rescued and adopted by the princess of Egypt.

She raised him as her own son.

Moses grew up with a dual identity. Egyptian and Hebrew.

About 40 years old. He goes out to witness the sufferings of his people. He intervenes against an Egyptian taskmaster who is beating an Israelite, and kills taskmaster.

In the aftermath Moses is marked for death by the Pharoah.

Moses flees for his life to the land of Midian. Marries into family of Jethro. Wife: Zipporah. A son: Gershom (for I am a stranger in a strange land)

Years pass. Then one day, the famous encounter between God and Moses occurs.

Text

Exodus 3:1–15 “Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

Illumination

Holy Spirit, who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, speak to us now in the reading and proclaiming of your word. Amen.

Introduction

One of the most famous call stories in the Bible.

Moses the shepherd. The burning bush. The Voice of God. Call of Biblical proportions.

God calls us into service as well.

His call may not originate in a burning bush…but the call will still have Biblical contours.

Exegesis 1: God points out the need to Moses

Moses is out shepherding his father in laws’ flocks.

On the one hand routine business.

Yet, Moses is also longing for God. Searching for God.

I suggest this to us because Moses takes his flock beyond the wilderness, the usual places for shepherding. And goes to the Mountain of God.

Moses is longing for God, like the psalmist will later write, My soul thirsts for God, like deer in a dry and waterless place. The sheep are hungry for grass, Moses hungry for the God of his people, from whom he is so far away.

God is looking for Moses.

God appears as a flame of fire shooting out of a bush…but the bush is not consumed. It is not a normal fire. Spiritual fire.

Curious — not just mentally, but spiritually — Moses turns aside to investigate.

When God sees that he has Moses’ interest, he speaks to Moses — knowing him personally and by name — Moses, Moses — he ushers Moses into a holy space and moment, in the presence of God.

God begins to recount a situation: the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

This situation is not news to Moses. Moses knows all about it. He grew up in Egypt. He had seen the oppression.

God knows that Moses knows.

The thing is that NOW God and Moses are looking at it together. With the bright flame God is illuminating something that has been hidden these many years in the dark recesses of his heart. The suffering of his people: I see it, you see it, we see this together — and it is important.

Application 1: We see the situation with God’s POV

Moses shows us that we have a spiritual hunger that prompts us to move beyond the wilderness of routine business, and life as usual. We long in our spirits to have God speak to us and call us into something important.

When we open ourselves to God’s call, he does speak to us. He calls us by name, that is to say with a purpose that is tailored to who we are and how we fit into his plan to bless the world around us.

Sometimes we think God is going to call us to a work that would never have occurred to us. But often God calls us to engage with something that is already a part of our life story.

Example: God calls…

Teacher who sees students struggling to learn…and God says, I see that too.

Business person who sees waste and pollution and knows something must change, and God says, that IS important.

Christian sees the sadness and lostness of people around them, God says: I hear their cries too.

God’s burning bush is his Spirit illuminating a deep desire in us that meets a need around us.

Exegesis 2: Moses resists God’s plan

After illuminating the need to Moses, God reveals the plan.

I have come down to save my people from their sufferings. I will deliver them from Egypt and bring them up out of that land into a good and broad land…so, come, I will send you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

For a moment, Moses may have felt relief and excitement: God says: I have come to do save my people — well and good. It is about time!

But when God says: Come I will send you — whoa, wait, what?!

Moses: You want to send ME to go to the most powerful nation, Egypt, — who already has a price on my head — to set free a whole people — at least several thousand people — , from whom I am estranged and who are entrenched in slavery and lead them across a vast wilderness to a new place.

Moses is confused and overwhelmed at such an inconceivable task.

Moses says, Who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and bring them out. JRH translation: With all due respect: are you crazy? Have you even thought this through?

Questions come in a torrent, in the rest of the conversation:

If they ask me who sent me, What shall I tell them? I don’t know you well enough!

What if they don’t believe me? Who am I to convince them?

Even if they believe me, I’m not good with words, who am I to lead them?

I can’t do this!

Moses is afraid…and I do not blame him. In fact, I am so thankful for his transparence and honesty!

Application 2:

Moses show us that God’s call will hit us in stages.

First stage is the easier part: we agree with God about the need: Yes the thing needs to be done, God you should do it, someone needs to do it…

Someone should invite that person to church

Someone should do that ministry or task at the church

Someone should get involved in that community need

But then the call gets personal. God says, someone should. You are someone. You are MY someone. I’m sending you.

Then our fear kicks in.

Who am I to do such a thing?

Who am I to share my faith? To invite someone to church? To get involved in ministry? or to take on that responsibility in my family or to set that goal for my work?

All kinds of fears: I am not worthy. I don’t know enough. No one will believe me or support me. I don’t have the strength, the wisdom, the skills, the ____ to do such a thing.

We can be honest about our fear…because our fear is the frontier where God speaks the word we need to hear.

Exegesis 3: God promises to be with Moses

Moses is afraid. God says: I will be with you.

God offers many assurances to Moses:

What is my Name - I AM. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Signs to help people believe.

Words to speak when you need them

Most importantly: I will be with you.

The symbol of this truth is the burning bush itself.

The bush burns, but it is not consumed.

God is able to produce the heat, the light, the energy, without consuming the vehicle, the bush.

Throughout the whole conversation between God and Moses, not a leaf, not a branch of the bush has been charred or fallen into the ground.

God’s is showing Moses, you will be like this burning bush. I will be with you and I will not you be consumed. I will not let you burn out. I will shine brightly through you.

And so Moses went, as we will read about next week.

Application 3: God promises to be with us.

In the New Testament the same promise — I will be with you — is given to us.

When Jesus went up to heaven, he gathered his disciples together and gave us this commission.

Go into all the world…in every walk of life, represent me.

And he gave a promise to go with it: I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.

The sign of his presence was the flame of the Holy Spirit that descended on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit sustained the disciples in all of the tasks they performed. They did not grow weary, but stronger they did not burn out, but burned brightly.

Like Moses, like the first disciples, God promises us: I will be with you.

You will be like the burning bush, I will shine through you

At church, at work, with your family.

Big promise: I will be with you.

It has been said: God does not call the equipped, he equips the called.

He says, I will be with you.

There is a task or challenge ahead of you: It is God’s will for you. Listen for his voice: I am with you. What difference does this make for you?

Conclusion

Moses is called by God into a great purpose.

With the purpose comes a promise: I will be with you.

God is calling you.

He offers the same promise: Iwill be with you.